Kidnapped!
by Thermopyle
Summary: What if Ranma wasn't who we thought he was? Who could he really be?


Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku-  
Nuku belongs to... Yuji Moriyama? If that's not right, let me know!  
  
Kidnapped!: Chapter One  
by Thermopyle (thermopyle@tds.net)  
  
  
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Nabiki rushed home immediately after classes let out for the day. She  
had called home to talk to Kasumi over lunch period, just as she'd been  
doing for the past several days, and found out that the information  
package she'd been waiting for had finally arrived. Now all she needed  
to do was see what it said.  
  
She didn't run on her way home, not wanting questions to be raised as to  
what could cause the Ice Queen of Furinken High to act in such an  
undignified manner. Instead, she walked briskly, creating the illusion  
that she was moving at her normal pace rather than going fast enough to  
leave old women doing their mall-walking exercises in the dust. She  
really wanted to know if there was more to Ranma's family than first  
seemed obvious.  
  
It had been a couple of weeks since Ranma and his father had arrived and  
she'd been waiting ever since to find out their family history.  
Unfortunately it had taken longer than expected to track down due to  
some problems with the paperwork, something that her business associate  
gathering the data had suffered severely for--Nabiki Tendou did not like  
to be kept waiting. Now that it was here, however, her curiosity could  
finally be sated.  
  
The whole idea of the engagement had bothered her from the start. She  
knew her father would never sacrifice one of his daughters to an unknown  
unless he had a very good reason for it, and she didn't know what it  
could be. The only guess she'd come up with so far was that the  
Saotome's might come from a wealthy background but so far that seemed  
unlikely. It had been that expectation which had led her to get dressed  
up in her formal kimono while waiting for Ranma to show up. She hadn't  
known to expect how rich he would be and figured probably less than Kuno  
but without all the personality problems that accompanied his money.  
When she saw the state of Ranma's clothes and the way he acted she'd  
been thankful that his curse allowed her an opportunity to back out and  
dump the engagement on Akane instead.  
  
As soon as she arrived home she abandoned all pretence of normal  
behavior and dashed into the house and up the stairs, where a thick,  
padded envelop lie on the ground in front of her door. She grabbed it  
and went into her room, slamming the door behind her and tearing the  
envelope open as she threw herself onto the bed.  
  
She frowned as she looked through the documents she'd taken from the  
envelope. So far she hadn't seen anything to indicate why her father  
would want Ranma to marry into the family. The Saotomes weren't broke  
but they weren't well off, either. Judging from the size of their house  
Genma's wife Nodoka was making barely enough money to pay the bills and  
keep herself clothed and fed. If her son and husband were to return  
they would surely need to find some supplemental income to keep from  
losing their home.  
  
The paperwork indicating that Nodoka had needed a bit of psychotherapy  
shortly after Ranma's birth was interesting but it didn't describe the  
nature of her problem. The medication and weekly visits had continued  
for a six year period, coming to a halt about the same time Genma would  
have taken their son on the training trip. That was certainly odd, but  
maybe she just couldn't handle children.  
  
The next page Nabiki looked at was a note from her associate who'd  
gathered the information, a long flowery bit of nonsense apologizing for  
the delay in getting the paperwork sent. It also mentioned that the  
problem had occurred when she looked up the birth certificate. The girl  
had found something else that hadn't made sense and rather than simply  
dismissing it she'd done more research to ensure that it was legitimate,  
which it seemed to be.  
  
Nabiki's eyebrow rose at that, deciding that she might award her  
associate with a small bonus if it really was worth the wait. Putting  
the note aside, she turned to the last page in the information packet  
and gasped in surprise when she saw the title. This wasn't what she had  
expected.  
  
It was a death certificate for one Ranma Saotome. Female.  
  
  
To be continued.  
  
  
Yes, some of you may have already read this from when I posted it  
earlier and it was several pages longer at that time, but I've since  
decided to change the way I'm approaching the story. The scenes that  
had previously been part of the prologue will now be shown elsewhere  
instead. Adds a bit of mystery that way, I suppose, and heightens the  
tension a little because of it.  
  
Anyway, email me comments if you have any. Address is  
thermopyle@tds.net  



End file.
